


Story of a Shark

by deepseasushi



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: M/M, biologist!Charles, fairy tale AU, shark!Erik
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-25
Updated: 2012-03-31
Packaged: 2017-10-31 17:26:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepseasushi/pseuds/deepseasushi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>shark!Erik and biologist!Charles, modern fairytale!AU<br/>Currently on hiatus!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

In the vast blue seas, surrounded by colorful fishes, corals, and various hard-shelled sea creatures, an oceanic white tip shark felt like a king.

Powerful, enormous, strong.

Lonely.

He is the only shark in that area of sea. Rather, the only one who dared to live there. Crawling with booby traps, snares, nets and speared bamboo gates, he knows that he is in a highly active shark-hunting spot.

The shark loved, and was incredibly smart in setting off traps and not getting trapped or caught by it. He liked seeing humans come in boats with hope, and returned with disappointment. It was his only entertainment there, the only thing he could interact with. When he felt like it, he often topples small boats, circling the drowned humans, scaring them out of their skins, but he never ate them. Well, maybe a bite, but never a full human.

All of that changed when he met a marine biologist.

The marine biologist came to the shark in a sampan. The human slowly rowed his way to the middle of the sea. He thought this was strange. Have the humans tried a new approach in catching sharks now? An offering, perhaps? Better not take them too lightly, anyhow.

He slowly circled his way up to the water surface, careful to keep some distance between him and the human. The human on the boat did not have any guns or spears or anything that could take him down. Now this is interesting.

The human looked excited to see him. Leaning over the boat, the biologist extended his hand just centimeters above the water, as if calling out to the shark to shorten the distance hovering between them.

The shark had thought about toppling the boat – honestly, that human was too easy a target – but something on the human’s face caught his attention.

His eyes were the prettiest pair of blue he had ever seen.

The shark was fascinated. He unconsciously drifted upwards, wanting to know more about this particular human. The human was probably thinking the same about him too, for his hand was slowly moving down to him as well, trembling slightly in anticipation.

As soon as the shark’s head left the sea, the human started talking to him like he was a human.

“Hi, my name is…”

But the man’s expression changed all of a sudden when he heard something from the shore.

“No… No, don’t fire at…!”

The shark felt something hit the side of his head before he could register anything. He tried to dive back into the water, back into his safe zone, but darkness engulfed him before the waters could.


	2. Chapter 2

The shark woke up to a large light blue surrounding. _Is this heaven? Is this where sharks go to when they die?_ No fishes, corals and annoying sea creatures around this water, the shark noted. He turned around; wanting to have a better inspection of these weird waters, but what he saw when he turned around was something beyond his knowledge.

The water looked like it was sawed in half. Something was separating the water from reaching the humans on the other side. Humans and huge machines were in the other side, and the shark was fascinated by the wide array of blinking lights and the amount of humans who did not flee by the sight of him.

But this is not the time to be impressed.

In fact, every single human’s eyes were fixed on him the same time his fixed on them. They looked at each other, until the humans got all fired up, running around in chaos. The shark watched in confusion, but was more confused with the barrier that separated him and the waters from reaching the two-legged creatures.

 _Water should not be limited by this!_ The shark slammed his head at the glass boundaries. _The seas I live in are huge! I have not seen it got blocked by this mere invisible wall!_ He slammed himself against the glass once again. _Why am I here?! Where are my annoying minions?!_ Backing away and thrusting at the glass with full force, he watched as the humans backed away with every slam he had made.

Humans.

_Where is the sky-eyed human? Did he lock me away in these lifeless waters? Where is he? I want to eat him! Chew him alive! Tear off his…_

The shark’s sky-eyed human had pressed his palms at the glass, looking at him with bright, sparkly eyes while the shark was angrily hitting the glass with his head. The shark had only noticed him when he looked down. Now he was sure that this human was considerably shorter than other humans.

Said human tore his eyes away from the shark, climbed up a flight of stairs, looking down at the shark in the huge water tank. The shark looked at him once again.

Just like they had did before, out at the seas.

He extended his hands out again, eager for contact.

This time, the shark made sure he was not going to go up no matter what.

Then he smelt blood.

Looking up, he saw that the human was bleeding! The blood smells nice, even from the small cut. He felt incredibly hungry now. Dashing upwards, the shark wanted to have a bite of the bleeding meat, his jaws extended and stretched, teeth gleaming under the artificial lights.

A hand, human. Just a hand.

But the next thing the shark saw was a gun aiming at him. His first instincts were to dive, but something large – and massively bleeding – fell into the water, sinking just inches in front of him. He looked up, and saw that the gunner’s face turned pale. Looking back at the sinking figure, he put two and two together.

The sky-eyed, shorter-than-others human was the one that was shot!

_How could he?! How could humans shoot their own kind?! Furthermore, how could this puny human take the shot for me?!_

The smell of blood was incredibly tempting to the shark. But he knew that this man had got hurt because of him. Pushing the hungry thoughts aside, the shark slowly nudged the man upwards, letting him rest his body against the shark’s head as he raised the human back on the water surface.

_Don’t die on me, human._

Just as the shark was reaching the surface – ignoring the increase of humans on the platform – he felt something touched his face.

It was the human’s hand. The one that was bleeding, damn it. He smiled at the shark, but the shark took no notice of it, already trying his best to balance a man with his head and not feasting on him.

Finally, humans clad in white on the platform fished the bleeding man out from the water, tossing buckets of dead fish into the tank. He ate the fishes hungrily, quenching his lust for food which was caused by the immense bleeding by the wounded man earlier.

But despite all that food, he still felt empty.

He needed company, and the only willing one had been taken away from him just moments ago.


	3. Chapter 3

It was endless rounds inside the boring waters as the shark waited for the human to return. Dead fish came down occasionally, but nothing far more interesting than that. Humans on the other side of the barrier looked at him countless times, but they could never get his attention like the one that was carried away.

Feeling bored and defeated for the umpteenth time, the shark let himself sank onto the cold, hard, flat and boring floor, deciding to rest for a while before roaming around this limited space like an idiot once again.

He was already planning on world domination out of boredom when the human of the shark’s dreams strode into his field of vision.

The human looked okay, and white bandages were wrapped around his left shoulder where he was shot earlier. He managed a weak smile, and ascended up the stairs to the platform once again, reaching out his hand over the huge tank.

The shark was more than delighted to see the human – in fact, he was thrilled that he began to swim around in circles, unable to keep his excitement balled up. He watched the human climbed up the stairs, with no gunners in sight, thank God, and looked as the human did the same gesture he had done twice.

He popped his head out from the water surface, swimming closer to the human, who was grinning happily to himself. Stubby fingers met slippery skin, and it was nothing like the both of them had felt before.

Excitement seemed the worst word to describe what they were feeling right now.

“Hi, big guy,” The human started to speak. His voice was smooth and sweet; the shark could listen to it all day, although he does not get any word he was saying. “My name is Charles Xavier.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was quite short, but I hoped you guys enjoyed it nevertheless :)


	4. Chapter 4

_**Jan 31, Tuesday  
Time: 1030** _

“Hi. Good morning, everyone. My name is Charles Xavier, head of the marine department and uh… this is supposed to be a video log about this wonderful oceanic white tip shark,” Charles had a camera in hand, and he was sitting at the edge of the huge tank, recording himself giving a brief introduction for the observation and experiment log of the mentioned rare shark.

Charles turned the camera at the huge brown shark in the tank, who is staying very close to the surface as he made circles around the tank. Charles clumsily kicked off his shoes, then socks, and proceeded to dip his legs in the water. Chills ran up Charles’s body, his toes curled together from the cold water. The shark sensed something in the water, and he swam towards it to investigate.

The pair of legs was small and slightly stocky in the shark’s eyes, but he loved the feel of it when the legs rubbed against his sharp nose – it was ticklish, and the sensation of it was overwhelming.

Meanwhile, above the water surface, Charles was giggling away – the shark’s skin felt ticklish under his bare feet, too. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help myself,” said Charles when he realized that the camera in his hand was still rolling. “This is the oceanic white tip shark we caught the other day. Quite the beauty… Or should I say handsome, since this is a male shark?” Charles looked at the shark as he directed the question to himself. The shark stopped rubbing his leg, turning his eyes at Charles. Then he nodded his head.

Biologists present in the laboratory were shocked by the shark’s signs of intelligence. Some of them who were working on cell slips with microscopes stopped their work on hand to look at Charles and the shark. They murmured among themselves about the nod earlier.

Excitement bubbled inside Charles’s stomach, threatening to burst out from it any second now. “We, we, uh… Just witnessed the shark responding to an unintentional question. This is just plain magnificent and intelligent!” Charles beamed into the camera, and turned the camera back to the shark. “I’m going to ask another question.” The whole atmosphere in the lab turned stuffy, laced with an air of nervousness.

“Did… Did you just nod at me?” Charles felt stupid for asking that, but he thought it was worth a try if he was to determine the shark’s intelligence.

The shark nodded again. _For some reasons, I can understand human language. Why is that so? ****_

**_That’s because you’re not just a normal shark._ **

_Damn. What is this voice in my head? I must be listening things._

**_I am nobody of significance. Just meddling with your thoughts and your ability. Move on, the human is calling._ **

“Erik.”

_Huh?_

“I shall call you Erik.” Charles said to the large predator, his camera zoomed in on the shark. “Is that okay to you?”

_Erik… That is a nice name._

He nodded.

“Oh my God, Erik, you’re the smartest shark I ever met!” Unable to contain his excitement, Charles leaped into the water with a push by his own legs on the wall of the tank, splashing himself wet and awkwardly hugging Erik – the shark – by the pointy nose, his camera now hanging on to the strap around his neck, which was now filming the bubbling water in the tank. Thank God for waterproof cameras.

Charles had not considered the fact that he was hugging a shark. The enormous carnivore in his arms was just like a huge dog to him.

Biologists around the lab was yet again stunned – by their leader’s way of showing affection to marine predators – and they ran around yelling for help, in fear that Erik might eat Charles alive.

Erik did not.

He was also equally shocked by Charles’s surprise tackle, too. He backed away, but looking at the way Charles held on to his nose, a stupid, satisfied grin on his face, it made Erik want to grow arms, too, so that he could feel Charles around him the same way the biologist did to him.

But the only thing Erik could do was to keep Charles as close to the surface as possible, he did not want the human to drown.

“Beware, Erik, I might love you because you’re so smart,” Charles said, who received a strange and unreadable stare from Erik. Well, who could read the face of a shark, anyway?

_Love? What is that?_

“Professor! You might want to come back up!” A spectacled brunet was yelling at the edge of the tank which Charles had leapt off from, and by his colleague’s desperate urging, the said brunet leaned out his arm for the professor, trembling in fear that the shark might bite it off.

“I will, Hank! I will!” Charles yelled back, and bid Erik goodbye by a pat on the top of the shark’s head, before he accepted the brunet’s hand, climbing back to the surface, back to solid land.

Erik grunted inwardly at the loss of the human’s touch, and he remained his sight on the dripping wet Charles. The biologist called Hank handed Charles a thick towel to dry himself, and slipped the camera out from beneath Charles’s arm. He checked it for any damage, but despite of all the water on it, the camera was still functioning. He moved the camera to face Erik.

“I don’t know how I should explain this, but it seems that this shark was not going to be an average shark for all of us right here in Stark’s marine research department.” Hastily wiping out the water on the lens with the sleeve of his lab coat, Hank continued. “It seems to have a very advanced brain of its own.”

“Erik.”

“Huh? What, professor?”

“The shark’s name is Erik,” Charles said, a toothy grin on his face. He was shivering under the towel thanks to the water and the air-conditioning system in the laboratory. But the cold did not put out the burning desire inside him for the shark. Hank nodded sheepishly.

“Okay, so his name is Erik. Say hi, big fish,” Hank took a tentative step forward to the unclosed top of the tank. Erik chomped at the air in front of him, splashing Hank wet with water from the tank before he descended into the depths of the tank. “I’ll just take that as a ‘hi’.”

**  
**

_**Jan 31, Tuesday  
Time: 2345** _

Charles was reluctant to leave his lab. He wanted to spend the whole night talking to Erik about his life, his dreams, how he secretly hoped that mutants exist, so that he could prove to the world that his thesis on genetic mutation was right and so on. It was like having a pet; you can talk to him, play with him, feed him, hug him, train him… That was when Charles had a bizarre idea. Since Erik could understand human language, that means he may be able to pick up instructions, too! He jotted down _‘train Erik’_ in one of his handy notebooks, and took a final, longing look at Erik before he shut the lights of the lab, leaving the light of Erik’s tank open as he disappeared into the night.

 _I’m bored._ Erik thought as he swam in circles around the tank.

“You shouldn’t be,” A voice rang inside Erik’s head again. The shark turned around sharply, and to his surprise, he saw a man clad in white was levitating beside him. Or rather, standing inside the tank, defying water buoyancy as he combed at his hair. He was not even wet! Erik looked at the man, and the man looked back at him, too.

“Greetings, Erik,” The man said, tipping his head at the shark, who made no attempt to do anything howsoever. “I am the voice you heard earlier on. I’m sorry for not giving a proper introduction. Well, I never did.”

 _How could you get inside my head?_ Erik asked through his mind.

“I could do a lot more,” answered the man.

_Why me?_

“Because you’re destined to be the one,” said the man, extending his arms out in an arc. “I wish to propose an offer to you.”

_Wha… What?_

“An offer,” the man repeated.

_I don’t even know your name, for God’s sake._

“My name is Sebastian Shaw,” said the man in white. “Meddler of the universe.”

_You’re weird._

“So I’m told,” Shaw said, his fingers rubbing at the small pocket watch in his left palm. “What is your wish, young shark? I can grant anything, but everything comes with a price.”

_Anything?_

“Yes. I have already granted you the ability to understand human language in exchange of your freedom, in case you’re wary of it.”

 _Oh…_ Real _thanks for that, by the way. Umm… Can I ask for one thing?_

“Go ahead.”

_I want to become a human._

“But why would you want that?” Shaw asked. “Is a shark’s life too dull for you?”

_No, it’s just… I want to know what love is, and since Charles said he was going to do that to me, so I might as well turn into a human to get ready for that… love, thingy, stuff._

The man let out a small laugh, his face, in Erik’s opinion, looked quite young when he smiled.

“Come on, don’t flatter me. I could turn into any look I prefer,” said Shaw, regaining his posture. “Love. You want to know about love, child?”

_Yes._

“But turning into a human… That would be too much of a change for you. You will not get used to not breathing in water and walking on land.” Shaw said, cupping the underside of his chin, making himself look like he was deep in thought. “There was something better that I could suggest.”

_What is it?_

“A merman.”

_Mer…what?_

“Half fish, half human. Have you ever heard of the story of ‘Little Mermaid’?”

_I heard legends of it. My parents don’t believe in them. So I don’t, either. But it sounds interesting._

“It _is_ interesting,” Shaw said, a grin on his face. “Do you want this offer?”

_What is the price of being a…?_

“Mermen.” Shaw said, and Erik quickly deposited that piece of data in his head. “First off, you will be able to breathe on both land and water. You will have a very handsome face, and to top it off, you can speak human.” Erik looked extremely happy at this point, and that was when Shaw decided to throw in the bad side of the offer. “You will experience betrayal, fear, hurt, desperation, even death, if you’re unlucky, as well as kindness, compassion, sacrificial, and lastly, love during the 14 day period as a merman. After 14 days, you will have to make a huge decision.”

_What decision?_

“Whether if you want to continue your life as a merman, a full human or a full shark.” Shaw paused to let the information sink into Erik. “I will come to you at that day, and you will tell me your decision.” He paused for some sort of a dramatic effect. “So, do we have a deal?”

 _Why are you doing this?_ Erik asked, still having his suspicions, although every part of him is screaming for him to accept the offer, no matter the terms and conditions. _Why am I the only shark getting this strange offer?_

“To be honest, I’m bored. I need some drama. That’s why I picked you. But don’t feel like you’re a puppet, don’t. I can only make things happen, but I cannot directly interfere with your life. That’s breaking the rules.”

Erik wanted to ask what sort of a rule he would break, but decided that he would keep quiet instead.

_Okay, I accept the offer._

“Very well, then. By tomorrow morning, you will be a merman. Do try and get some sleep for now.”

_But fishes don’t…_

Before Erik could say anything else, he was knocked out by Shaw’s glittery powder, and for the first time in his life, he drifted off into a deep slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Feb 01, Wednesday  
Time: 0817** _

Charles was curled up in his comfy, fluffy bed when a life-changing phone call came in. The loud and sharp ringtone pierced around the quiet room, rendering Charles from his dream about a man who has an arc reactor as his heart. He groaned and tossed the sheets above his head in an exasperated manner, before reaching out to the loudspeaker button of his phone.

“We have a situation, Professor! You need to come, now!” The voice of one of the biologists rang through the phone, his voice urgent and needy.

“It is 8am in the morning,” Charles groaned, running his fingers through his messy hair impatiently. “Can’t anything wait until at least 9?”

“It’s about Erik, Professor.”

Charles jumped at the mentioning of Erik. His drowsiness was swatted away, replaced by strong feelings of interest.

“What happened?”

“It’s… We’re having a hard time believing this, but… Gahh! Professor! Can’t you come right now?!” The biologist yelled, and immediately fell silent after that, having realized that he had just raised his voice at his superior.

“Expect me in 20 minutes.”

 

_Feb 01, Wednesday  
Time: 0845_

Charles had broken several traffic rules to get to his lab in time. Not that he minded, anyway. Hastily slipping on his white lab coat, he pushed open the door to his lab, his eyes immediately searched for the huge tank settled in the middle of the room. But what he had seen was not what he had expected.

He had expected for a shark to swim around it, minding its own business and don’t give a care about the world.

Not a sleeping merman.

“Holy sh… Hank!” Charles immediately called for his most trusted colleague, who was standing very near beside the tank. The brunet raised his head to lock eyes with the professor. “Wha… What the… Is that what I thought it is?” Charles asked and slowly made his way towards the tank, towards the merman. Hank nodded, his eyes returning to the merman inside the tank.

“Could it be… you know, Erik?” Hank voiced out the question which was bugging him for quite some time now.

“Not that question! I mean, yes, it could be him, but how did this --” Charles extended his arm to his sides, indicating a huge sized object; in this case, a huge shark. “-- turn into _that?!_ ” Pointing towards the half-human, half-shark in the tank, Charles was confused, but the confusion was left aside when the mentioned merman was stirred in his sleep, and got up from his slumber.

The shark half of his body twitched as Erik rubbed the drowsiness of his eyes. _So this was how it feels like to wake up from a sleep,_ he thought, and after a moment he realized that he was rubbing his face with _human_ hands! Leaning his hands in front of him, he found the structure of his palms and fingers – long and slender – extremely attractive. Commanding his hands to touch his face, along his body, and realizing that he had the face and body of a human just as Shaw promised, he felt so happy that he could shed manly tears. Well, a single one did, but he was in the water and nobody saw it.

“Look, Hank, he is just as confused at his own changes as well,” Charles pointed out, and caught sight of the huge smile that was carved on Erik’s face. “But he’s sort of happy about it. Anyhow! Research later, observations first!” Charles announced, and ran towards the tank, forgetting about the camera he was supposed to use for the video log.

 _Awesome. This Shaw guy can really do anything._ Just as he was about to tell Charles all about it, said biologist was already waiting for him at the top of the tank, his face filled with eager and excitement. Erik wondered whether the man would stop being so pumped up every single time he met him. _Guess it went both ways. You’re equally happy too when you saw Charles._

“Come on, Erik. I’m here,” Charles said, patting the water surface with his palm, forming water splashes and ripples around it. Erik narrowed his eyes at Charles – yes, he could also hear very well underwater – before slowly swimming up to the surface, wriggling his body and tail awkwardly as he did so; he still needed time to get used to his new body. Submerging from the water surface, Erik’s first words were…

“Of course you’re there, couldn’t exactly come down and join me, are you?”

Charles was surprised by Erik’s ability to speak English, but nevertheless, he took a moment to look closely at Erik. He had soft, brown hair, his features extremely attractive, and most of all, his eyes. At first sight, Charles could not decide whether if it is green or blue, and eventually he had decided on green, after much staring.

“You’re beautiful.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Charles was obviously taken back by Erik’s statement. “And how could you speak perfect English?”

“I don’t know, a person named Shaw gave that power to me, I guess. Oh by the way, you’re beautiful because your eyes are like the sky, and now that I have the chance to take a closer look, your lips are actually a rare beauty, too.” Erik said the whole mouthful of it without breaking a sweat or blush, and this made Charles go red on the face.

“Why… Why thank you, Erik,” Charles said, taking a deep breath as an attempt to fight away the blush. “A guy named Shaw? But there was nobody else in the lab after I left!”

“I guess he just appeared from thin air or something like that,” Erik said, shrugging to himself. “He did say he was a meddler of some sort.”

Charles was still all jumpy about the fact that he was talking to a merman who had just half-flirted with him earlier. “So you’re saying that the reason you’re a merman is because of magic, not science?”

“Magic… I could say so. There’s no possible explanation,” said Erik, and moved forward towards Charles, taking hold of his hand in his own. “I’m glad that I can feel you this way, magic or science.”

If there was an award for bold mermen, Erik would top the charts every single time just by leaving him with Charles.

“D…Don’t say things like that!” Charles said, the blush creeping onto his neck, and he jerked out his hands from Erik’s grip to pat away the blush. But Erik sees this as Charles’s sign of rejection.

“No, Erik. I don’t mean it the hard way, I…” Seeing the hurt that flashed through Erik’s face, Charles quickly reached out for his merman friend once again, trying to grab his hands, but the merman simply moved out of his reach, his eyes remained down casted, quietly observing the movement of water ripples and his own shark end of his body. “I’m sorry, Erik.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” Charles repeated, and concentrated his sea blue eyes at Erik as he apologized. “I don’t know that you would feel rejected by this… I’m just…”

“You’re just…what?” Erik asked, already swimming back towards Charles, looking at him with his emerald eyes filled with concern.

“I’m just shy, okay? People don’t compliment about my looks anymore, and yet you’re…” Charles said timidly, and a huge grin smacked over Erik’s handsome features.

“You don’t need to, Charles,” Erik said, and a low, badly-timed rumbling came from his stomach. “Speaking of which, would you mind bringing over some food?”

**  
**

_**Feb 01, Wednesday  
Time: 0930** _

Charles had bought two fills of cooked steak and a fill of orange juice from the cafeteria just a level below the lab for the merman. He had thoughts about whether Erik had the need to drink, but he bought the drink anyway. If he doesn’t want it, other people will. Erik was pleased to see Charles when he returned, and was certainly happy when he saw the food in his hands.

Charles settled the food down on the edge of the tank, and took a seat beside Erik’s breakfast, fumbling with the camera he had received from Hank. Erik looked at Charles, who looked back at him, and gestured for him to eat the steaks.

“Is this yours?” Erik asked, pushing one plate of steak back to Charles, who shook his head as a ‘no’.

“I don’t eat breakfast, Erik.”

Erik was disappointed to know that.

“You should eat!” Erik said, tearing off one of the steak with his inhumanly raw strength and sharp fingernails before handing over the torn piece of steak to Charles. The marine expert looked at the piece of steak with shock, and then shook his head politely.

“Food distracts me. A lot,” Charles groaned, and willed himself to not look at the steak. He wanted to keep it from everyone that the reason he avoided breakfast was not because of busy work – _that_ played a huge part, but the main reason was that he wanted to cut down on his food intake. Charles was aware that he was getting slightly round around the edges, and work could be a perfect excuse for everyone who asked about his habits of not eating breakfast.

“Why?” Erik asked, unaware that water droplets on his finger was seeping into the warm steak as he still held out the steak in mid air for Charles. “Won’t you feel hungry at all, Charles?”

“No, I won’t,” Charles said, finally finished the adjustments of his camera. He turned it on, and he aimed it at Erik. “Erik, say hi to this camera.”

“I’m not going to say anything to this weird thing until you eat something, Charles,” Erik said, and decided to resort to a glare. “Come on! How hard could it be to eat something?” Erik growled, and settled both portions of the steak back on the plate, using the free hand to support himself up the tank, attempting to climb onto solid land to reach Charles.

“No, no, no! Don’t climb up here, Erik!” Charles dropped the camera down and rushed over to Erik, gently prying his fingers off the edge of the tank, pushing him back into the water. Charles was not sure about how mermen would survive on land, and he was not going to take a risk. Not now. “Fine, fine! I’ll just eat that… that bloody steak, alright!”

Erik’s head cocked at Charles’s statement. “Bloody? But it was already… how to say, cooked to perfection, as you humans might say?” Erik examined the steak on the plate, and even sniffed it for good measure. “Nope, definitely no blood.”

Charles let a small giggle past his lips at Erik’s antics. Erik watched the pale human laugh away as he trained his eyes on him. He thought that he could ever not find another human as beautiful as Charles. He unconsciously reached out his hand to touch Charles’s face, shocked by the smoothness of the full human’s skin. He let his hand wander around Charles’s cheek, before starting to trail down his face, reaching his chin, his neck, then his…

“Erik! Touch me for another second and I will slap your face with this piece of steak!” Charles said in a rather loud tone, in hope that he could pump some discipline into Erik, but the shark did not budge nor remove the hand on his face.

“That’ll be an interesting way to feed a merman, Charles,” Erik said, and grinned brightly at Charles, who pushed Erik’s hand away, replacing it with the larger piece of steak on the plate. He grabbed the smaller piece in his free palm.

“Enjoy your breakfast, Erik,” Charles muttered and took a bite on his steak, glaring at Erik as he did so.

Erik smiled and kept his eyes focused on Charles as he sank his sharp teeth into the piece of steak, never leaving his gaze on him until he had finished his breakfast.

Aside, Hank quietly picked up the camera, and once again thanked God for bestowing knowledge onto mankind to invent waterproof as well as shockproof cameras.


	6. Chapter 6

_Feb 01, Wednesday  
Time: 1440_

“Hey, Erik. Look what I got you!” Charles came bouncing happily to the side of the tank holding a book. Erik looked at the book with great interest.

“These are books,” Charles began explaining, waving the book animatedly in his hands as he spoke. “They provide information to humans. Some of them provide long lasting entertainment. It differs. Have you seen one of these before?”

Erik stared at the book in Charles’ hand.

“I think I once saw some of them under the sea…” muttered Erik. “Around sunken ships. Some of the stuff there looked like the one in your hand.”

“Great! We could get started with some real literature. One that you could finally understand! Here, I picked this. I thought it would suit you a lot.” Charles said and turned the cover of the book to let Erik take a look at it.

“ _The Little Mermaid_?!” Erik yelled in disbelief. “But mermaids are just legends!”

“This is not the exact descriptive story, Erik,” Charles said patiently. “It’s just a fictional story.”

“What a coincidence,” Erik muttered.

“Don’t sulk! Come on, my friend. I’ll read you this story.” Charles said, and cleared his throat as he shifted himself to make himself comfortable on the platform before his lovely accented voice started to ring around the room.

“ _The Little Mermaid lives in an underwater kingdom with her father, the sea king, her grandmother, and her five elder sisters, each born one year apart_.”

“Where’s her mother?” Erik interrupted Charles’ storytelling, already making himself comfortable by propping both his arms on the edge of the tank, the tip of his left elbow making a small wet spot on Charles’ pants.

“Okay, fine. Her father _and_ her mother,” Charles said, feeling tempted to roll his eyes at Erik, but after seeing the grin – that damned, cocky grin -, Charles sighed to himself and continued to read the story to Erik.

“ _When a mermaid turns 15, she is allowed to swim to the surface to watch the world above, and as the sisters become old enough, one of them visits the surface every year._ Erik, are you 15 years old?”

“Piss off.”

“Where did you learn to swear like that?” Charles asked, and Erik did not answer him. The professor continued. “ _As each of them returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the surface and of human beings…_ ”

“I made all the observations myself, Little Mermaid. Hah!”

“Erik!”

“Not sorry.”

“ _When the Little Mermaid’s turn comes, she ventures to the surface, sees a ship with a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a distance. A great storm hits, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from a near-drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here she waits until a young girl from the temple finds him. The prince never sees the Little Mermaid._ ”

“Why doesn’t she wake the prince up herself instead?”

“He was unconscious, Erik.”

“She could try.” Erik shrugged.

“ _The Little Mermaid asks her grandmother whether humans can live forever if they do not drown. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than merfolks’ 300 years, but that when mermaids die they turn to sea foam and cease to exist, while humans have an eternal soul that lives on in Heaven. The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, eventually visits the Sea Witch, who sells her a potion that gives her legs in exchange for her tongue._ ” At this point, Erik somehow relates himself to the Little Mermaid, and Charles the prince, the Sea Witch as Shaw. But he did not tell Charles about this. Instead Erik asked, “Why would somebody want a tongue, anyway?”

“It is said that the Little Mermaid has the most intoxicating voice in the world.” Charles said, and Erik had the urge to tell Charles that he, too, had the best voice he had ever heard, but the want to know how the story goes took the better of Erik. For some reasons, Erik think this story was made for him. What an ambitious thinking for a shark.

“ _The Sea Witch warns the Little Mermaid, that once she becomes a human, she will never be able to return to the sea. Drinking the potion will make her feel as if a sword is passing through her, yet when she recovers she will have two beautiful legs, and will be able to dance like no human has ever danced before_. _However, it will constantly feel like she is walking on sharp swords hard enough to make her bleed. In addition, she will only get a soul if she finds true love’s kiss and if the prince loves her and marries her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Little Mermaid will die and disintegrate into sea foam._ ” Waiting for Erik to throw another question at him, Charles stopped. “What, don’t you have a question?”

“Hmm? No. Not at the moment.” Erik grinned, and Charles made a note to himself to anticipate a question later.

“ _The Little Mermaid drinks the potion and meets the prince, who is attracted to her beauty and grace even though she is mute. Most of all he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite her pain_.” Something stirred inside Erik. Something he could not quite decide on.

“ _When the prince’s father orders his son to marry the neighboring king’s daughter, the prince tells the Little Mermaid he will not, because he does not love the princess. He goes on to say he can only love the young woman from the temple, who he believes rescued him_.” No question. Just the sound of Charles reading the story from the book. “ _But it turns out that the princess is the temple girl, who had been sent to the temple to be educated. The prince falls in love with her and the wedding is announced_.”

Multiple stab of feelings surged through Erik. He could not decide what are those feelings, either.

“ _The prince and princess marry, and the Little Mermaid’s heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has given up, and all the pain she has suffered for the prince. She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her. But before dawn, her sisters bring her a knife that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their long hair_.”

“What are they going to do with it?” Erik asked in a small whisper, the strings of his heart already clinging on to the story.

“Shh. This is the best part.” Charles shushed, and continued. “ _If the Little Mermaid slays the prince with the knife and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again, all her suffering will end and she will live out her full life._ ”

Charles took a look at Erik. “Erik, are you okay?” The professor asked, patting the mermen on the shoulder. The ex-shark let out a breath he did not know he was holding. “Keep yourself together, all right?” Erik nodded.

“ _The Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince. As dawn breaks, she throws herself into the sea. Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warmth of the sun; she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air. Eventually, she rise up into the kingdom of God_.”

Charles ended his story with a small smile on his face. Surely this would be a fine reading material for a merman? He hoped that this would arouse Erik’s interest in reading. He turned around to face Erik, but what he saw shocked him.

“Erik? Erik, talk to me, Erik!” Feeling hands cupping the sides of his face, Erik snapped away from his blanked out state. “Erik, are you okay?” Charles asked once again, gently wiping away the tears that were on Erik’s cheeks. The merman nodded his head, jerking Charles’ hand away from him, lowering his head to avoid Charles’ face.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to act like this,” Erik said in a choked, hoarse voice, wiping at his tears with the back of his hand. He hoped that his eyes were not red and puffy.

Charles looked at Erik, and instead of having any kind of sadness, only happiness flowed through him.

“You have feelings.”

“What?”

“You have feelings. You are not cold blooded as everyone assumes.”

“So?”

“That means you’re more human than you look, Erik.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Little Mermaid story in here was taken from Wikipedia.
> 
> I'm sorry this took longer to update.


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